Post-card-vending machine.



J. W. THOMPSON. POST CARD VENDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APB..5, 1911.

Patented June 17, 1913. Q

sou-11181.4 ruNooRAm-l :0 WASHINGTON, o. c.

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:rosnr'n w. THOMPSON, or NEW YORK, N. Y.

POST-CARD-VENDING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 17, 1913.

Application filed April 5, 1911. Serial No. 619,114.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Josnri-I W. THOMP- SON, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at 126 West One Hundredth street, New York city, county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Post-Card-Vending Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in post card vending machines, and particularly to the form of card carrier employed in such machines.

I am the inventor of a post card vending machine for which heretofore I made application for Letters Patent of the United States, the same having been filed November 28, 1910 and serially numbered 59 1, 194, wherein I employ a card carrier and card extractor mechanism. My present invention is adapted to be used in connection with the machine described in said application or other machines employing like or kindred devices. In view of my said pending application I deem it suflicient to illustrate in this case only such parts of the mechanism shown and described in said pending case as are essential to disclose the cooperation of my present invention with the mechanism illustrated in the pending case.

I have illustrated my invention in the accompanying drawing, designating the parts by numerals and letters, referring to like parts by like numerals and letters.

Figure 1 is a vertical section taken through the carrier and extractor mechanism. Fig. 2 is an elevation with the pack of cards, the front plate and exhibition card removed. Figs. 3 and 4 are horizontal sections taken on the line m-0c of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 shows the position of the cards at rest, while Fig. 1 shows their position when acted upon by the friction wheels.

In the assembled machine illustrated in my said prior application, there is a disk forming part of the supporting frame of the mechanism, and an arm supporting the carriers. In this application I have designated this disk as 1 and the carrier as 2. I have indicated the carrier as an assembled whole as A, while 3 is the back plate of the carrier, having a base 11 and side walls 12-12 with flanges 12 secured to the back plate 3 by the bolts 24.

7 is a pack of cards, support-ed within the container, resting on the base 11.

8 is a face plate for the carrier, hereinafter referred to as a positioning member or abutment, and 9 is an exhibition card secured to the outside of the face plate 8.

10 is "a casing containing the extractor mechanism.

I deem it unnecessary to duplicate the detailed description of this mechanism. The same is fully set forth in my pending application. S'uflice it to say that 4 represents a main shaft which is turned by a crank lever indicated in my pending case as 30 and operating a train .of gears, terminating in a pair of friction wheels 5, the latter being employed to contact with the outside card of the pack and extract the same.

The extractor mechanism is controlled by the coin 6 referred to in the pending case as 42, w and .2, according to its position in transit through the extractor mechanism. The base 11 0f the carrier A is mounted at right angles to the face plate 8, with a suflicient space between its edge and the face plate to permit the passage of a single card. The base plate 11 is made with a central extension 15 from which its body is cut away toward the edges thereof as at 14E1 1. The face plate 8 is a sheet of metal cut away at its lower corners as at 23 to permit the friction wheels 55 to contact with the pack of cards.

16 is a block adapted to bear against the lower portion of the pack of cards and keep them uniformly against the face plate 8. 19 is a handle for said block 16 to provide a convenient means for moving or ad justing the same. The block 16 is cut away in the center thereof as at- 17 and on its edges as at 1818.

20 is a. bolt screwed into the back plate 3 to hold firmly the springs 21 and 22-22.

The spring 21 has its tension directed to bear upon the pack of cards through the aperture 17 of the block 16, while the two arms of the spring 2222 bear upon the block 16 to hold the same against the pack. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken on the line 00-50, illustrating the position of the cards prior to the frictional contact of the wheels 55 with the out-side card of the pack, while Fig. 4 illustrates the operation of these friction wheels when they make contact with the pack, which operation is briefly described as follows: The spring 21 impels the central part of the pack toward the outer plate 9, while the friction wheels pressing on the two edges of the pack have a tendency to overcome the tension of the springs 22-22, thus bowing the pack. lVit-h the rotation of the extractor wheels 55, the outermost card of the pack is drawn downwardly, the spring 21 holding the pack in such relation to the base 11 as to permit the one card to clear the projection 15 of base 11, while the balance of the pack is retained within the container. By the continuous rotation of the extractor wheels 55, as stated in my pending application, the card is withdrawn through the rollers indicated and discharged to the outside of the machine. Thus, it will be obvious that the carrier above described operates with certainty, due to the fact that the spring 21 tends to hold the lateral center of the pack against the face plate 8, and the elasticity of the pack and of the springs 22-22 is utilized to resist the pressure of the friction wheels 55. The pack is bowed by such pressure,and the shape of the base plate or support 11 as cut away at 14:1t allows for such displacement, so that the extension 15 operates as a positive selector, holding back all but one card against the operation of the extractor mechanism.

The operation of the device is as follows: The pack of cards is introduced into the carrier, one side of the pack resting against the face plate; the block 16 is then placed next to the pack with the springs 22-22 bearing thereon to hold the pack against the face plate, while the spring 21 bears directly on the pack in a vertical central line near the base of the pack. The coin is introduced and the shaft 4 is caused to revolve, and in turn the extractor wheels 55 revolve, and by a cam movement controlled by the coin, the extractor wheels 55 are forced against the card nearest to the face plate 8, making frictional contact therewith, and causing the pack to be bowed out whereby the center of said outermost card avoids the extension 15. It is then forced downward by the wheel, the said extension 15 of the base plate 11 holding all but the outermost card against such downward pressure, and thus a selection is made of one card from a plurality of cards supported within the container.

The foregoing is one embodiment of my invention adapted to the particular structure shown. I do not intend, however, to limit myself to this particular structure,

but to claim the invention as the same may be applied in many forms.

IVhat I claim is:

1. In a post card vending machine, a card carrier having a front plate and a base plate mounted at right angles to the front plate and spaced therefrom to permit the passage of one card, said base plate being cut away toward its edges, leaving the center portion thereof to support the main body of the pack of cards, means for applying a yielding pressure to the pack in a vertical central line near its base, separate means for applying yielding pressure to the pack adjacent to either edge and near the base thereof, and means to expel the card adjacent to the front plate consisting of a plurality of friction wheels, means for rotating them and means for pressing them against the pack near the edges of the cards with a pressure opposed to the spring, pressure also applied adjacent the edges of the pack.

2. In a post card vending machine, a card carrier having a front plate against which the cards are held by an elastic pressure and a base plate mounted at right angles to the front plate and spaced from the front plate to permit the passage of one card, said base plate being cut away toward its edges, leaving the central portion thereof to support all of the cards, except the card im mediately adjacent to the front plate, in combination with a block cut away at the center, the same being interposed behind the pack, three springs anchored to the back wall of the carrier, one of which bears directly on the pack of cards through the aperture in the block contacting with the pack centrally, and near the base of the pack, while the other two springs bear on the block with their tension directed to keep the pack in contact with the face plate, and means consisting of a plurality of friction wheels operating on the sides of the card adjacent to the front plate against the pressure of the springs above referred to, to bow the pack and remove the card next adjacent the front plate.

3. In a card dispensing machine, a carrier consisting 'of an abutment for positioning the card, a support transverse to the abutment and projecting centrally toward the same, means for pressing the center of the pack toward the abutment, side presser members tending to press the side portions of the pack in the direction of the abutment, extractor members movably mounted, and means for pressing them against the top card of the pack near its edges, so that the tendency of the side presser members is overcome and the pack is bowed with its center toward the abutment, whereby the top card only is released from the support and permitted to move from the pack in response to the action of the extractor the pack so that the top card avoids the sup- 10 mechanism. port, and feeding it from the machine.

4. In a dispensing machine, means for Signed by me at New York, N. Y., this positioning a pack of cards, 211 support pro- 6th day of March, 1911. fectin toward the lane of t e ositioning inelnb er beneath r11 2; lateral ceiiter of the JOSEPH THOMPSON' pack, and means consisting of ejector mem- Witnesses: bers at each side of the pack and pressing CHARLES O. EDWARDS, means at the center of the pack for bowing EVAN L. TAMBLYN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

